Start/Finish on the Malecon in the heart of San Felipe along Sea of Cortez;

to be televised internationally; Start Draw to be held on Tuesday, March 27

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico – After just 10 days of accepting online racer registration, many of the sport’s top figures are among the first 43 official entries for the upcoming 32nd annual SCORE San Felipe 250 in Baja California, Mexico. Starting and finishing for just the second time on the Malecon beach walk in the heart of town, the season-opening event of the four-race internationally-televised 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship will be held April 4-8 in San Felipe, the peaceful fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif.

All four 2018 races will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the third consecutive year.
At the top of the early entry list for the 2018 SCORE San Felipe 250, which includes racers from 12 U.S. States and Mexico so far are Rob MacCachren, Andy McMillin, Cameron Steele, Billy Wilson, Justin Davis, Dan McMillin, Luke McMillin, Mark Post, Robbie Pierce, Santiago Creel, Said Sanchez, Gustavo Vildosola Sr., Francisco Septien and rookie Liz Karcz.

The year of 2018 also marks the 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 to be held the end of May and beginning of June. The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top 10 motorsports events held annually in the world.

THREE DECADES-PLUS

Celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the youngest of the three legendary SCORE Baja races, sometimes referred to as the SCORE ‘baby Baja’, entries are being accepted on the SCORE website under Race Info at www.SCOREInternational.com for Pro and Sportsman entries for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads.

Pre-race festivities will be held in San Felipe on April 4, 5 and 6 with race day on Saturday, April 7 concluding with the post-race awards fiesta at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday, April 8.

The colorful pre-race contingency and Manufacturer’s Midway, the starting line and the finish line will be on the Malecon in the heart of San Felipe for the second straight year.

The deadline to enter in time to be in the drawing for starting positions within each class is 8 p.m. PT on Tuesday, March 27.

FAB FIVE

While three racers have three overall victories in the SCORE San Felipe 250, Las Vegas’ Hall of Fame racer Rob MacCachren might have set a standard that will last for awhile, unless he breaks his own record of five overall and SCORE Trophy Truck wins this year.

MacCachren, who won the overall in San Felipe last year to give him nine class wins in this race, earned his first SCORE Trophy Truck overall in this race in 2003 when he split the driving with Mexico’s Gustavo Vildosola Sr and his second in 2007 when he split the driving with Mark Post.

MacCachren earned back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012 driving solo and won his fifth last year driving solo again in his No. 11 MacCachren Motorsports Rockstar Ford F-150.

In the motorcycle/quad classes, two 2017 season point champions are already entered and one of them, Mexico’s Santiago Creel, is rider of record on four motorcycles in four classes.

Creel, an international rally racer from Mexico City, will be the rider of record on two motorcycles in the Pro Moto Unlimited class, one in the Pro Moto 30 class for riders 30 years and one in Pro Moto Limited, the class he was the season point champion in during the 2017 SCORE World Desert Championship.

Said Sanchez, Tijuana, Mexico, has already entered the Pro Quad class in his No. 1a Honda TRX450R as the defending season point champion.

SOLO BIRDS

The Pro Moto Ironman class for solo riders already has three entries including versatile motorcycle racer Francisco Septien, of Ensenada, Mexico, and Liz Karcz, an East Coast transplant living in Albuquerque, N.M.

Septien, 42, has four class wins in this race and will be going for his first San Felipe win in this unique class.

Karcz, 34, originally from Passaic, N.J., is a registered nurse who currently works in the ICU department at the University of New Mexico Hospital.

This will be her first SCORE race and her goal is to run the entire 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship as an Iron(wo)man while raising charitable funds for the DA8 Strong Foundation. DA8 Strong, founded by former SCORE champion racer Destry Abbott, raises funds to help improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families.

EL BANCO

For over three decades, the annual motorsports festival that has brought the largest economic impact of any single event held annually in this lightly-populated portion of the rugged, rough and bountifully beautiful Baja peninsula has been the SCORE San Felipe 250.

ANOTHER GOLDEN YEAR

Following last year’s epic celebration of the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, this year’s SCORE World Desert Championship includes the special tribute to the 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500 when it is held this year in Ensenada on May 30-June 3.

The SCORE Baja 500 is one of the top motorsports events in the world. It was started originally in 1969 by the NORRA organization. Mickey Thompson and his SCORE International organization were invited by the Mexican government to take over the event in 1974. Sal Fish ran and later owned and produced the SCORE Baja 500 for 39 years until he sold SCORE to Roger and Elise Norman in December of 2012. The first Baja 500 organized and produced by SCORE was held on July 26, 1974 as the first of over 150 SCORE Baja races.

Ensenada is the heart and soul of the SCORE Baja 500 as the popular summertime race will start for the 45th time there and finish for the 41st time there.

SCORE RULE BOOK UPDATE

Under the supervision and direction of SCORE CEO/President Roger Norman, SCORE Race Director Jose A. Grijalva and SCORE Tech Director Dan Cornwell with editing and updating by SCORE Ops personnel Lawton Shank and Christine Wait, the 2018 SCORE Rule Book is currently in final review along with the 2018 Rule Book Addendum. All relevant items will be available in the near future on the SCORE website under the race info page.

SCOREscope

Below is the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule. For the third consecutive year all four races are being held in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule: